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State Officials Approve Columbia Expansion

By Corey Kilgannon December 18, 2008 4:01 pmDecember 18, 2008 4:01 pm

Columbia University cleared a major hurdle on Thursday in its effort to expand its campus into Manhattanville, as state officials voted to approve the project, opening the door for the use of eminent domain to allow the university to acquire land from holdout property owners blocking the project.
Columbia already owns most of the 17-acre expansion zone in Manhattanville, a largely industrial neighborhood in Harlem where the university is proposing a $6 billion plan to build a gleaming new campus over the next 25 years.

The vote, by the board of directors at the Empire State Development Corporation, came after two hours of impassioned testimony against the plan by more than two dozen residents, business owners and lawyers representing them.

Norman Siegel, the former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who represents Nicholas Sprayregen, one of the last holdout landowners, immediately declared that a lawsuit would be filed to challenge the ruling.

“We’re not against development, we’re not against Columbia University,” he said. “We just don’t think it’s legal, constitutionally, to employ eminent domain.”

A Columbia spokeswoman, Victoria Benitez, said, “We’re pleased that the Empire State Development Corporation has approved the general project plan.”

The vote sets up a situation in which the state could compel the businesses to leave the campus expansion site and arrange for the properties to be taken over by Columbia. The agency declared the area blighted in July.

But many speakers at Thursday’s meeting argued that the area did not fit the definition of blighted — in that it was not “underutilized, substandard urban landscape” — and that the expansion was not a civic project meant to benefit the public.

Columbia’s expansion plan has sparked wide opposition from residents and business owners in the development zone, as well as from activists in Harlem and in the Columbia student body. For the past several years, the university has bought land from dozens of property owners in the area, which is bounded roughly by Broadway on the east, Riverside Drive on the west, West 129th Street on the south and West 133rd Street on the north. Besides Mr. Sprayregen — who owns four buildings in the area as part of his Tuck-It-Away moving and storage business – the last major holdout is the Singh family, whose members own two gas stations.

Mr. Sprayregen said after the vote that he would continue to challenge the ruling in court, with recently acquired documentation that “paints a damning picture of the process, including collusion between Columbia and New York State, and conflicts of interests.”

“They’ve worked in concert together the whole time,” he said. “They told the state, ‘We want you to condemn everyone in the area we couldn’t get on our own.’”

Mr. Sprayregen complained that the university purposely blighted the area by buying up property, then neglecting and “warehousing” it.

Mr. Sprayregan said he has already spent more than $1 million to fight Columbia’s expansion and is willing to spend millions more.

“This has become a crusade for me,” he said. “I see this as a test case that I want to take to the U.S. Supreme Court if we can’t get justice in New York, just to show how corrupt and unethical this process has been.”

Last year, a state judge questioned the independence of the Empire State agency, citing the appearance of collusion between the state and Columbia, with the state hiring a consultant that was already working for Columbia on the expansion project.

The use of eminent domain in this instance must have the Founders turning in their graves. Columbia University, as great as it is, is not a government entity; and its desire to expand its campus does not represent a “compelling public need.”

Collusion? Collusion between an agency that wants to promote economic development and an ivy league institution that wants to pour billions of dollars into building new campus space that will create thousands of lasting jobs and millions in yearly economic benefits?

As a Columbia University alumnus, I have felt some displeasure at how the University has bent backwards to accomodate a few anal jerks who are getting in the way of the public good. The City, the state, the country and the world will benefit from an expanded Columbia University campus and to allow a couple of trashy, third-rate, loser businesses to obstruct this enterprise and hold it hostage – that goes beyond the realm of bad taste.

My message to these businesses as a New Yorker is this: “take the money and get the hell out of the way, or get stepped and crushed like bugs. It makes no difference to me which alternative you pick. I have had it with your pity party.”

blacklight – I really find it difficult to believe that you’re actually a graduate of Columbia.

Exactly how has Columbia bent over backwards for anyone?? Explain to all of us how someone wanting to protect their property and/or business that someone has built over a great deal of time makes someone an anal jerk.

No one is saying that Columbia can’t expand its campus. The point is that they don’t need to have every last acre of land, and they don’t fit the definition for who eminent domain is intended for.

Would love to see if you had the same “get the hell out of the way ” attitude if it was your home or business in someone’s path.

Are these holdout businesses the ones that really are billboard companies? I would argue that any property that receives more than 20% of its revenue from billboards is by definition “blight.” In the case of some of the businesses up in Manhattanville, I believe the number approaches 80%.

“blacklight – I really find it difficult to believe that you’re actually a graduate of Columbia. ” In disbelief

That’s why I am a graduate of Columbia and you are not.

Having said that, I have nothing but contempt for these holdouts and their supporters like you who are getting in the way of the public good. I don’t give a damn about your meager understanding of the power of eminent domain either. And I have zero empathy for eithe these holdouts or the likes of you. These holdouts and the likes of you have long crossed the line between being obstructionists to being parasites and it is about time that you are treated like the parasites that you are. As I said: get the hell out or get crushed like bugs. Last warning.

To George #3, What do you mean “passing the public test”???? Can an average person get into Columbia? It’s very much private and only certain requirements will get you in. I am all for development and higher education but not for the abuse of eminent domain which this is such an example of. And blacklight #4…Are you kidding? Since when is someone owning thier property and is having it taken away for private not public use an “anal jerk”????? If you are a Columbia graduate this may explain what is taking place. Let’s see what you would say if this were to happen to you.

I’m sure the university has done everything possible before resorting to ruffle the feathers of the locals and its student body which is probably made up of this year’s oh so special voting bloc of budding “coastal liberals”. (And, apparently some of The Times readers many of whom have been nothing more than “liberal” hope-and-change-wielding hypocrites during this year’s farcical race. How do you like your Obamessiah’s third-term Clintonian administration now–enough change for ya?)

Charles: “To George #3, What do you mean “passing the public test”???? Can an average person get into Columbia?”

Can an average junior high school student get into Stuyvesant High or Bronx Science or Brooklyn Tech? Can an average high school student get into the City College of CUNY School of Engineering? You are slow of wit, Charles.

I believe that the sprosed site also contains a fairly new MTA bus depot– what is going to happen to that? Will the taxpayers have to pay for a new one somewhere else?

The issue of buying up property and then letting it deteriorate — then declaring it a blighted area is something which must be dealt with. It has just been done in the Hunt’s Point area in Queens– an area which did not get much in the way of public services given the pictures potholed muddy streets– which has now been declared “blighted” and targeted for “development.” Where will those businesses go now? Whose neighborhood is next?

Why has no-one asked why it so important that this new
campus be almost connected to the old? In fact, it is not.
Scientists will not be collaborating by sprinting from 133nd
steeet up to 120th, what a joke. Columbia can build its
campus somewhere out-of-town where there is space. It
is pure vanity and posturing to insist that this new
space must be on the Morningside campus. Why is this
not part of the conversation?

Columbia is a fourth-tier Ivy League school that happens to still
stay afloat simply by the good fortune of being located in
New York city. I am not only a graduate (PhD) but a former faculty member of Columbia, but couldnt stand their corruption and incompetence any longer. They attract great faculty, fortunately,
because of their location. Their main problem is not that
they dont have enough space for research, but that
they have an incompetent administration. A first rate research
university must be run with innovation not litigation, driven
by a a short-sighted administrative team of lawyers, led by Lee B. Want to stall the Manhattanville project indefinitely? Ask for proof that the science that will be done
there will be effectively administrated, by someone who knows
more about science than a 3rd grader. Want to drag a
potentially great University into embarrassing controversy
after controversy? Put a team of hack lawyers in charge.

First off, let me say that “blacklight”‘s arrogance is not typical of Columbians. It’s possible to support the use of eminent domain without being such a jerk about it.

Secondly, in response to Roger W. Bartons, Columbia’s administration is extremely competent. That the president isn’t a scientist doesn’t prevent the university from having strong science departments. Do you think having a scientist in that job would leave the university ineffective in the humanities?

Lee Bollinger was president of the University of Michigan before he came to Columbia and he did a terrific job there — especially for the life sciences, which got an enormous boost while he was in office.

Columbia’s problems in science most definitely do stem from inadequate space, not inadequate leadership. The amount of space Columbia has for the sciences is a problem, but the quality of that space matters even more. A few years ago when Princeton opened a new chemistry building its press release noted how remarkable it was that the old building had served since 1947, since hardly any major university had science facilities that old. Well, Columbia’s main chemistry building went up in 1898. Its primary physics building was finished in 1927. Many of the lab buildings at its medical center also date from the 1920s or 1930s. It’s tough to do cutting-edge research in buildings that old, and Columbia’s departments have begun to slide precisely because their facilities are not as good as those of peer institutions.

Having a lawyer in charge is clearly not the reason Columbia has had so many recent controversies. Take a look at Duke. It has had more negative attention in the media lately than just about anyone, but its president is an English professor.

As for the claim that Columbia is a “fourth-tier Ivy”, I note that its faculty includes as many Nobel laureates as those of Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn and Yale *combined*, and that only two Ivies had lower admissions rates last year. I think your anger has clouded your grasp of the facts.

My family has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. The area under question IS blighted. I’m sorry, but it is. It’s a mess. I don’t know how long Columbia has held property in the area, but for as long as I can remember, the area in question has been a disaster. Yes, there are a couple of gas stations and a beautiful storage building (that I think should be landmark protected), but otherwise … it’s a wasteland. As a resident, I would be thrilled if Columbia moved up here. There would be jobs for thousands, better care of the neighborhood — and less drugs. Right now, the drug lords reign.

A long time ago, I lived on the Upper West Side. I have very clear feeling that Columbia was a bully, a cold-hearted, calculating bully. But I think it’s time for me to be open to new feelings, new ideas. And time to look at the present situation as I see it, not as others are telling me to. Times change and so do entities. Give the place a chance.

This is a 25-year project. It won’t directly impact most of the poverty-stricken folks who live in the area now. It will affect our children, if they’re unlucky enough to still be living here. I hope that Columbia will bring better job opportunities, maybe even better educational opportunities. People might stop being afraid of this university and actually interact with it. If that happens, then both they and the university will change, and for the better.

I have no sympathy for the relatively few businesses affected by the development of the campus. When someone says he’s prepared to spend millions to block development of a project that could bring thousands of jobs, I have no sympathy for him. I do disagree with any use of eminent domain in this case — but I still have no sympathy when I see that these businesses are not having their property “taking away” but are going to be compensated financially. Most of us who live here, earning well under $25,000 annually, would love to be in a position in which we could spend millions to defend anything. We’re not.

There’s a very silent group of property owners, owners of the small brownstones and larger apartment buildings, in the area who would love to have Columbia come. They hope to enjoy higher prices for their property and renters with stable incomes. Then there are just the folks who hope to have better control over crime and drugs.

I know it’s not a popular to say you support Columbia in this instance, especially when you’re a neighborhood resident. But I’m saying it here. This area is most definitely a nightmare. It needs change. If I have to choose between living in the shadow of Columbia University and living in the land of drug lords, I choose Columbia. Wouldn’t you?

Wow! It’s just shocking that eminent domain is being invoked by private institutions and corporations. How did we let this happen? We have got to turn this around since the potential for abuse is so obvious! One man’s castle is another man’s slum. What, ultimately, would keep rich people, corporations, and well-endowed organizations from buying up all property and turning the rest of us into propertyless wage workers (the landless peasants of the urban era)?!

Definitely strong feelings here. As an observer, I must
say that Bartons’ comment, while “clouded,” raises an interesting point,
especially in light of CUAlum’s comment.

Columbia has a large, spacious campus across the Hudson, known
as the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Being there has not
hurt Columbia’s excellent research in the sciences. One might
even say that some of the best has come from LDEO.

So what, exactly, is so essential about the Manhattanville space
as opposed to other space?

Why has Columbia’s “effective” administration allowed its science
facilities to deteriorate so badly and why does their problem
need to be solved with eminent domain?

The neccesity of this space does seem to be an argument
made by someone wearing blinders. The eminent domain
claim does also sound whiny.

As for Bollinger being an embarrassment, here is a list:
1. was spineless on the issue of military recruitment
2. did nothing about professor-student harassment issues
3. punished striking graduate students
4. looked as foolish as Ahmadinejad, if not worse
5. made an entire film “Columbia Unbecomming” possible

The beautiful storage building AreaResident mentions was originally a factory for Studebaker automobile parts. Columbia owns it, and the building’s preservation has always been part of the expansion plan. The university has already spent tens of millions of dollars renovating it and has moved hundreds of employees into the newly-created offices inside. The rest of the building will be renovated in the near future.

“So what, exactly, is so essential about the Manhattanville space as opposed to other space?” Julius

Answer: there is something cheesy about having a campus that looks like several unconnected jigsaw puzzles. Proximity creates interaction, and interaction generates new ideas the way the sparks created by friction create fire. Whether you like or buy the rationale or not, I don’t care. That’s what the rationale is. Period.

It’s not a bad idea to have Columbia expand to northward to 125th Street while City College of CUNY keeps 125th Street to 145th Street. As an alumnus of both institutions, I would be quite pleased with this situation. In fact, nothing pleases me more that two extremely highly regarded institutions of higher learning are at home in Harlem. On the other hand, City College of CUNY will be sandwiched in a pincer between Columbia’s Morningside campus and its Jackson Heights campus.

Roger W. Barton’s mouth is a perpetual motion machine that’s fueled by his anger. His calling Columbia ” a fourth-tier” Ivy betrays a rather shaky grasp of reality and no small amount of smug, delusional thinking that’s impervious to the facts. I will not argue with a nut job.

“Wow! It’s just shocking that eminent domain is being invoked by private institutions and corporations.” Jennifer

Let’s say as an example that your neighborhood is drug infested, crime infested neighborhood. Along comes Honda, who wants to build a factory right there. I am all for Honda invoking eminent domain to kick you out of the building you own. If your feelings are hurt and you feel like crying, buy your own tissues.

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